We Should Cocoa: Raspberry & Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Almond Meringue

I’ve been playing around with chiffon cakes a fair bit lately. Back when I used to live in Malaysia, chiffon cakes a more common than sponges and I do wonder if it’s to do with the fact that we could, and did refrigerate chiffon cakes, as opposed to butter rich sponges which alters in texture when you chill them but would taste rancid quite quickly if left ambient in Malaysia.

This month’s We Should Cocoa challenge is hosted by How To Cook Good Food and the theme is almonds. If you remember, I made a Chocolate Almond cake a few posts back. However, I wanted to have a little bit more play around with chiffons so decided to was going to piece together a few recipes and see what result I get. This would be my fourth We Should Cocoa entry and I’m embarrassed to discover that all of them involve fruits. Here, have a look yourself – The Sound of Silence, Meringue Chocolate Butterscotch & Strawberries and Banana Peanut Butter Cake.

This cake is baked in a chiffon tin. It pretty much looks like a Bundt tin but just straight sided without any curves. I’m pretty sure you can bake this cake in a Bundt tin or a normal tin. The recipe may look complicated but believe me it is just a set of processes that when broken down, is manageable and quite simple.

So where are the almonds, you might ask? I’ve hidden them. Slaveboy doesn’t like nutty nuts. I, on the other hand would have nuts in everything. For this cake, there is almond extract in the raspberry chiffon and there is ground almonds in the muscovado meringue. I didn’t think the lightness of the chiffon cake would fare very well with chunks of nuts in or on it.

And the best part is that you can make this cake in advance and pop it into the fridge.

The Recipe

Preheat oven to 180C (160C if fan assisted)

Chocolate Chiffon

2 egg yolks, at room temperature

60ml sunflower oil

60ml water

1/2tsp vanilla extract

100g + 50g caster sugar, in separate bowls

70g plain flour

30g cooa powder

1tsp baking powder

1/8tsp salt

1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 egg white

method

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, 100g sugar, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a medium sized bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the egg yolks, oil, water and vanilla extract. It should look like a loose paste.

Add the flour mixture in small amounts into the egg mixture. Ensure it is thoroughly mixed.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg white until soft peaks.

Add the 50g sugar and which until glossy and forms peak.

Carefully fold in this meringue mixture.

Pour into the tin and level.

Raspberry Chiffon

3 free range egg yolks, room temperature

25g caster sugar

1/4tsp lemon extract

1/4tsp vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/2tsp rum

100g raspberries, puréed

30ml sunflower oil

60g plain flour, sifted

1tsp baking powder

1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda

3 egg whites, room temperature

35g caster sugar

method

Mix the egg yolks and 25g of sugar in a large mixing bowl until well blended.

Add the lemon, vanilla, almond extract, and also the rum to the egg mixture.

Add the raspberry purée and oil and ensure it is well mixed.

Sieve the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate soda into the mixture and mix thoroughly. You don’t have o have the mixer setting on high, just allow the beater to turn over sufficiently.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until it holds to a soft peaks.

Add the sugar and whisk until glossy and stiff.

Fold this meringue mixture into the raspberry/egg mixture and carefully loosen the mixture.

Pour this mixture gently into a greased pan and level it.

Baking times: 45 – 50 minutes. Check with a cocktail stick. There should be hardly any crumbs on the stick.

Set aside and allow to cool.

Raspberry Laced Cream

200ml double cream

100g raspberries, puréed and pips discarded

method

-Whisk the cream until it is softly whipped. You want it to be slightly stiff but you don’t want a curd-like texture.

-Fold in lightly the raspberry purée.

-Spread this onto of the cooled cake.

Almond Meringue

1 egg white

30g caster sugar

30g dark muscovado sugar

30g ground almonds

method

-Preheat oven to 150C.

-Whisk the egg white until stiff peaks.

-Add the sugars and whisk further until the meringue mixture becomes glossy and thick. When you lift the whisk away, the meringue should come to a peak.

-Fold in the almonds.

-Spread onto a baking parchment laid over a baking sheet around 2cm thick.

-Bake for 20 minutes until golden and crisp. Leave to cool.

-Crumble into pieces.

The process is as such – you make the chocolate chiffon, you make the raspberry chiffon, you layer them in one tin and you bake it for 45 to 50 minutes. While that’s cooling, you make the almond meringue and you bake it for 20 minutes. You also purée fresh raspberries, push it through a sieve and discard the pips and you fold the smooth purée in with whipped cream. Do not overmix. Assembly is easy. Pile the raspberry purée laced cream on top of the cake which you have inverted on to a plate. You arrange raspberries on the outer edge of the cream. You crush the almond meringue and scatter them on top of the cream.

The flavours? Delicious. It was light, not overly sweet and the right balance of tartness from the raspberries. The flavour of the raspberry chiffon was delightfully enhanced by the almond extract and the ground almonds in the crisp meringue added a nutty caramelised flavour to the meringue, making it more substantial.